


Imprinting

by Engineer104



Series: Royal Flush - a Prompt Fill Collection [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 10:58:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16852759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineer104/pseuds/Engineer104
Summary: A flock of baby "ducks" adopts Hunk as their mother.





	Imprinting

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a prompt and was _deliberately_ short. also the first of multiple ficlets i wrote involving Hunk and birds hehe
> 
> originally posted [here](https://sp4c3-0ddity.tumblr.com/post/170090335918/for-the-discord-prompt-flash-fiction-so)

“Hunk.”

Hunk held his breath and clasped his hands together when he heard Allura’s voice behind him. His gaze swiveled down to his feet before springing back up again, and he slowly pivoted and faced what would likely be his demise.

“Good evening, Princess,” he said. He plastered the fakest smile he could muster onto his face.

Allura raised an eyebrow at him and frowned…right before pointing at the ground at his feet. “What, exactly, are  _those_?”

Hunk glanced down, then jumped and yelped, pretending to be bewildered by what he found. “Oh, these?” He gestured towards the five tiny – really, each one only reached his ankle in height – creatures clustered around his shoes. “These are…I have no idea what these are.”

Allura hummed thoughtfully, crouching in front of him to get a better look. She held a hand out, but the  _things_  – which, to Hunk, looked like a cross between an owlet, a duckling, and a frog – shifted, putting him between them and the princess. “Where did you find them?” Allura wondered.

Hunk shuffled his feet, carefully so he wouldn’t tread on one by accident. “Uh, on my last mission to Helion,” he said. “I landed outside the city; there was a lake. And then…” He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “I think they imprinted on me, like ducklings.”

“What is a ‘duckling’?” Allura asked. She stood upright but kept glancing between Hunk’s face and the babies that trailed him like he was their mother.

“A duckling is a baby duck.” At Allura’s continued confusion, he added, “A duck is a type of water fowl.”

Allura crossed her arms. “Hunk, I am not familiar with the fauna from your planet.”

Hunk clasped his hands together and chuckled. “Right, I keep forgetting that. Uh…a fowl is a bird? A bird is an animal with wings and feathers; some fly, some swim…some, like ducks, do both?” He smiled hopefully at Allura.

To his relief, she nodded, smiling slightly in understanding. “Oh,” she said. “I suppose we had something like a  _duck_ then on Altea.”

“A…dooflaz, Pidge called it?”

“Yes!” Allura grinned. “But I don’t remember their young doing  _that_.” She pointed to the creatures still peering at her from around Hunk’s legs.

Hunk squatted, holding a hand out to the smallest one, which sniffed at it. “Yeah, they think I’m their mother, probably.” Then he frowned, eyes widening, and a thrill of familiar anxiety hit him. “Oh, no, I don’t know what to feed them!”

“I suppose you could try different things?” Allura suggested.

Hunk stood, grabbing her by the shoulders. “But what if I poison one by accident? What if I—”

“All right, calm down!” Allura pried his hands off – Hunk mumbled an apology – and added, “And perhaps Coran can search the Castle’s database. We may have some old information about Helion fauna.”

“Yes, that’s…a good idea.” Hunk exhaled a sigh of relief, his heartbeat slowing. “I think I’ll go figure that out now, actually. They’ve been trailing me for a while, so they’re probably hungry already.”

As if corroborating his statement, the five of them started chirping.

It was adorable, Hunk thought, but he had a feeling it would get very old, very fast.


End file.
